Aston Villa midfielder Lucy Staniforth has swapped a holiday with her mum in Ibiza to help England prepare for the Women’s World Cup after receiving a late call-up to the standby list.
She replaced injured Manchester City forward Jess Park, 21, on Monday evening and joins defender Maya le Tissier as England’s back-up options.
Park has returned to City for rehabilitation on a shoulder injury.
“My mum was buzzing and of course wanted me to go,” said Staniforth.
“I was supposed to go to Ibiza with mum on Monday which is obviously very unfortunate. But she wasn’t bothered about Ibiza.
“She will still go on her own. If anyone sees someone on their own in Ibiza, she’s looking for a bit of company!”
Staniforth will remain with the Lionesses until their opening World Cup match against Haiti on 22 July, meaning the 30-year-old will be part of the squad for their warm-up friendly at a sold-out Stadium MK on Saturday, before flying to Australia on 5 July.
“I walked off the training pitch and was waiting to get picked up so was stood on the side of the road with a ball tucked under my arm. I looked at my phone and saw it was [England manager] Sarina Wiegman,” said Staniforth.
“I was thinking ‘oh no, what’s going on?’ I kind of thought once the first week [of England’s preparation camp] was out of the way, if there was any chance of getting brought in, it would have been then.
“I was surprised, obviously. I got her to repeat the whole tournament schedule again for me about three or four times because I just kept saying ‘sorry, when are we travelling?’ – I was so out of the loop.”
Staniforth has scored two goals in 17 England appearances and was named in the 28-woman provisional squad for Euro 2022, before missing out on final selection.
She added: “I thought my moment had passed. When [Wiegman] called I was in a really good frame of mind and I was like ‘of course I’ll come in’. I was just really glad this opportunity arose.”
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